Three more working days left in the legislature. Last week the House met until 10 p.m. three days and until 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Add to that the conference committees that meet at 7:30 a.m. and the Capital De-velopment Committee work, yet I am still able to get my normal 5 hours sleep a night. Since all of my bills are now either on the way to the governor, in the Senate (and basically out of my control) or killed, these last three days will be relatively stress free except for those issues I wish to champion or challenge. I do not believe that the general public truly understands the rigors the final days of legislature places on their elected officials. Maintaining focus on the many issues strains the mind and pushes their physical limits.

My previous articles have been about life in the legislature and the legislative process. I hope these articles have been enlightening and were intended to help the average person better understand their government. This week I will make a departure from this trend and report on the legislation I have worked on this year. I was "on the hook" for (obligated to carry) 24 bills and resolutions ... a hefty load for a rookie. I do not have the room to report on all 24 so I will select those that my constituents asked me to carry or that directly impacted our district.

HB 1207 - "Transporting of Involuntary Hold Mental Health Patients Across State Lines" has already been signed by the governor. This much-needed bill allows consumers to be treated close to home and family support. The meetings I attended last summer convinced me that we needed another option besides transporting distressed persons to Pueblo, five hours and two mountain passes away. This is a regional answer to a growing problem.

HB 1178 - "Proration of Specific Ownership Taxes and Registration for Special Mobile Machinery" is a bill that truly challenged my organizational skills. Contractors that bring heavy equipment and construction equipment into Colorado to do work are unfairly taxed an annual fee regardless of the amount of time that equipment is in the state. Besides being against federal reciprocity laws, this placed even our own in-state contractors at a disadvantage. Two previous attempts at this bill tried to utilize the already overwhelmed county clerks for enforcement and collection. And for this reason the two previous attempts failed. After much research and the help of specialists in the Department of Revenue, the decision was made to allow the Ports of Entry the enforcement and permitting ability to collect and prorate specific ownership taxes and registration. We also allowed a penalty for those persons who might decide to avoid the ports. This bill took over a hundred hours to reconcile and reach a workable solution. HB 1178 is on its way to the Governor.

HB 1483 - Requiring the Division of Wildlife to Develop a Predator Management Plan. This late bill was brought after the Joint Budget Committee rejected the DOW request to fund the effort. The bill forms a seven-member commission co-chaired the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources and the Commissioner of Agriculture. The commission will develop a range of acceptable levels of bear, lion and coyote for each region. The intent is to factor all data already known such as habitat, weather, disease, male maturity, doe/buck ratios and hunting to determine an effective predator management plan. HB 1483 is awaiting Senate second reading action.

Sen. Dyer and I have worked together on many bills this year: SB 129 Deregulation of Railroad Fares, HB 1042 Purple Heart Plates Free to Purple Heart Recipients, HB 1045 County Governments Intergovernmental Agreements with Indian Tribes, HB 1324 & HB 1325 Tribal Air Quality Compact and Commission, and the infamous HB 1332 Noxious Weed Tax Leins by Local Governments. All of these bills made it to the Governor with the exception of the noxious weed bill. On that bill, Sen. Dyer and I were blind-sided by lobbying organizations that the bill was truly intended to help.

Jim and I work well together and complement each other in different ways. It is nice being able to work with my long time very good friend and Senator. Besides, it was Jim Dyer who initially urged me to run for office and helped me learn the ropes while I was participating with trade organizations and state boards. Sen. Dyer is not only good to work with, he is good for Southwestern Colorado. When it comes to representing our mutual constituents, seldom does party affiliation ever become a factor.